5 Nights of Promises
by Isabelle
Summary: If he promises her tomorrow, he'll also have to promise her forever and forever is not his to give. Harry & Ginny fiction set POST HBP. A series of short stories of 5 nights in Harry's 7th year. Warning: I love writing agnst.
1. Pledge to an Earring

Pledge to an Earring

by Isabelle

Spoilers : post-HBP!

Summary: A watcher in the crowd and a pledge unbroken.

Pairings: Just Harry/Ginny - yeah, OTP!

Rating: PG (for slight language)

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Around them he had never felt like such an outsider. Perhaps because he was indeed truly not there. He hid under his invisibility cloak. Never had he felt like such a coward. He would reveal himself a bit later. But for now he just wanted to watch them.

Particularly he wanted to watch her without people thinking he still had feelings for her. He would have to be indifferent once he made his presence known. He couldn't risk her life - he wouldn't be able to bare it.

She looked beautiful, he thought. All soft and golden. The closer he got to her the more her flowery scent, that continuously surrounded her, infatuated him. Lulled him, reminded him of times when he bathed himself in her scent.

She was helping Gabrielle with the flowers in her hair; laughing with the younger girl. When she walked away from the pre-wedding preparations and went to her room alone, he followed her - intent on only watching her. Just watching her from far away - or up close without getting too near. Without letting her sense him.

He's never seen her look so pretty. Her hair was longer now - it seemed like the two months they'd spent apart had made it grow inches. He longed to touch it like he did once. He truly longed to hold her and make the entire world go away. Make the war go away. Make his destiny disappear.

But he couldn't do that. Not until Voldermort was gone - not until he had defeated him.

Life would have to wait until then.

He entered her room after her and watched her as she opened her wardrobe. He'd never really entered her room and was not surprised to find photos of him on her dresser. One was of both of them caught on one of those rare occasions when they relaxed by the lake. He'd remembered that day. He'd forgotten he was Harry Potter then. He was just a boy in love with Ginny.

In love with Ginny.

"How long are you going to stare at me, Potter?" her voice cut into his thoughts. He sharply looked up and there she was - sitting on the bed, idly painting her toe nails.

He cleared his throat and pulled the cloak off him slowly.

He'd never been able to fool her.

"Hermione brought me these two colors - should I use Golden Amber or Tempting Fuchsia?" she spoke to him as if they had just seen each other a minute ago and it was perfectly normal.

"Errr..." he shuffled his feet.

"It wont matter - both will annoy Fleur." she smiled sadly. "She's not that bad, you know." She said after a term of silence.

He sat next to her, making sure their bodies weren't touching. She sighed audibly.

"Are you planning on being silent and not saying a word?" she turned and looked at him.

"I don't know what to say." he said truthfully.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "I'm glad you're f-fine... you just disappeared from the Muggle's home... we didn't know were you went off to..."

"I've been with Aurors... they've been keeping me secret... been training and such-"

"For the showdown." she interrupted, her voice crispy but controlled.

Harry looked away and towards her window. "You looked happy out there."

"I am happy, Harry. This war makes me sad but I will not let it get in the way of my happiness." she sounded resolutely.

"Good."

"I will get my happiness, Harry. Someday I'll marry - find true love, have many children and live to see old age."

There was a stabbing pain inside of Harry. It was bitter, cold and wretched. He could see her vision. He could see her happy and laughing with many children and a loving, normal husband at her side. He hated that view. To think of her with anyone else made him sick to his stomach. The monster he thought long dead was breathing fire now.

"Right..." Harry stood abruptly. "I wont get in the way."

"I know you wont, Harry. Because you will be that man."

He would admit that the pain inside completely disappeared, it was quickly replaced with elation but even more quickly drowned by thoughts of doom.

"Ginny..."

"Why did you come here, Harry? To tell me once more this is for the best? I will ask nothing of you except to come back to me when you're done. I will be waiting, Harry. But will also be fight, Harr...by your side. I swear I will."

Panic rose in him at the thought of her fighting. Just to think about it ...

"I can't have you out there!" he exploded. "What if something happens - I can't be worrying about you!"

She looked at him passively - and he met her eyes. She was the strongest woman he had ever met and she told him everything in one look. She stepped carefully towards him and grabbed one of his hands.

"You think I'm safe in the Burrow? At Hogwarts? There are other ways to fight. There are other war zones. Helping in clinics, hospitals, in research... I can't sit back and do nothing." her voice was calm but Harry could see her fierceness was threatening to break free.

He nodded slowly. "Just be careful, will you?"

She smiled slowly and leaned into him. He should have walked away but the furious monster that Ginny Weasley had created inside of him was stronger than both of them and very quickly his arms were wrapped around her and he was surrounded by her scent.

After months of training, researching and hard work it felt like at long last he was coming home.

He leaned in to kiss her. He had forgotten the euphoria that was her mouth.

When they pulled apart she looked intently at him.

"I love you, Harry Potter." she whispered harshly. "So you come back to me, you hear? Or I swear I'll hunt your soul down to hell itself just to Bat-Bogey-Hex you back to oblivion!"

He laughed at her comment and kissed her again.

"I've got to go... I've lingered here too long." He reluctantly pulled away from the warmth of her arms and grabbed his invisibility coat.

She watched him until only his head remained.

"So this is how our meetings will be, then? Every few months or so you'll come knocking at my door... we'll have our little rendezvous and until later?"

He was sadden by her depiction of their actions. "You know I wish it weren't like this."

"I know... I know, Harry." She paused and turned quickly to her dresser, pulled out a box and opened it. From inside she pulled a small silky sack. "Ron, Hermione and I have special permission to use magic when warranted. I'm making this a warranted case." He watched as she revealed a pair of old pearl earrings. "Our family has never had much," she blushed slightly. "... but being the only female Weasley I inherited these. They were my grandmother's... they're the earrings I am to wear on my wedding day."

She placed them on her palm and muttered an incantation. The small earrings glowed bright green then went back to their normal coloring.

"You take one and I'll take the other." She handed him one of the earring which he took - still a bit confused. "During the First War my grandfather fought right into his old age but he was always connected with my grandmother using these earrings. When you desperately need to see me... or I desperately need to see you; speak my name to the earring and the happiest memory we shared will be shown."

Harry looked at the earring eagerly and then back at Ginny. There was a single tear track on her right check.

"I hate the war... I hate Vol-Voldemort, I hate this prophesy," she said with some strength. "But what I hate the most is how it feels like it drains all the happiness away..."

A thick lump felt to Harry's throat and he reached out and cleaned her tear track. "You'll wear these earrings someday, Ginny. And that's the a promise I make to you."

He pulled from her, pocketed the prized earring and disappeared under the cloak.

Ginny gasped and went towards him but he pulled back and walked out the door. He had to leave. If he stayed in her presence a moment longer he would cave in. But he couldn't cave.

Their future was in his hands.

He would not die to make sure she got her happiness... he would live to make sure she would.

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The End

A/N: I thought I was done with fanfiction but HBP brought it right back up for me. I might write a series based on this - who knows.


	2. Irony of the Gods

Irony of the Gods  
by Isabelle

Summary: Companion piece to "Pledge to an Earring" - six months after that encounter Harry returns once more to find Ginny... loved by another.

Rating: PG

Spoilers: POST HALF BLOOD PRINCE!

A/N: I like series of short pieces - it's written without the compromise that comes with a series and without the pressure to impress with a one-shot.

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_The irony of the gods  
Are found in the mouths of fools  
Who leave the night in search  
Of loves that neither last nor consume. -- Isabelle_

Somehow the cold made his soul feel emptier. It was dark, damp and so frigid that he thought he might die of a collapsed lung before Voldermort got through to him.

"I'll be back tomorrow," he told his companion.

"Be careful, Harry... it's more dangerous than ever."

"I know... I just..." he took a deep breath and looked out to the house he loved. "... I need to know if it's true."

Tonks shifted her feet next to him and kicked at a pebble. "It'll do you no good to see 'er, Harry. Charlie confirmed it."

A nasty flame of jealousy cursed through him once more. He pulled his robes closer to block the freezing wind but it would do nothing for the cold settling inside of him.

"Don't wait for me, Tonks... I'll find you."

"I know you will... just go easy on her. Sometimes we girls are just silly, you know?" He had a sinking suspicion that she didn't necessarily mean Ginny.

He swallowed and nodded. "Right."

Resolutely he walked the few feet before reaching the front door. The lights were lit and there was music, laughing and dancing inside.

Curiosity got the best of him and he watched in wonderment as Mr. & Mrs. Weasley danced to a lively tune along with Bill & Fleur, and Ron & Hermione. The twins, talking at either side of Luna (whose father was currently missing), were trying to cheer her up. He couldn't see Ginny anywhere despite how long he stretched his neck.

Suddenly, from the back door of the Burrow, came Ginny and... none other than Oliver Wood. Harry's insides mashed and re-formed all at once. He hid in the shadows quickly - something he'd learned long ago.

Oliver laughed. "And the next thing I know - I'm lying on a hospital bed completely unconscious!"

Ginny roared with laughter, leaning into him. "I think that happened to Bill once - when he was at school."

Oliver stopped for a second and stared down at her. He seemed transfixed with the beauty it had taken Harry five years to notice. "You're amazing, Ginny. Ever since I saw you at the twins' shop I knew you were different."

Ginny stopped smiling and turned from him.

Harry wondered how much he would make himself watch. How long before he would run out and throttle Wood?

"Oliver... you're... t-this is surreal. I mean, you were Quiddich Captain when I was just 11... every girl in the House idolized you... and here you are, telling _me_ I'm amazing." Her eyes were shinning - a shine that hurt Harry more than he could describe.

It was true; all the rumors and all the talk about _his_ Ginny dating Oliver Wood - national Quiddich player were true. Nice normal Wood. Able to keep Ginny out of harms way and be with her more than just twice a year.

"... but you love Harry."

The words floated into Harry's misty mind. His ears alerted. To his horror, now Ginny was wrapped in Oliver's arms, her cheek resting on his shoulder - tears running down her pale face.

"Is it possible to be so horridly upset with someone you love so very much?" she whispered.

Oliver sighed and let her go. "Listen, I might not know Harry as much as you do... or as much as Ron or Hermione... but I do know that you love him; that you're giving him your entire soul... and if he loves you half as much as I do... he couldn't stand to see the love of a woman like yourself just wither and die."

Harry's chest thumped. He still hated the git but he was rather proud to call him a friend.

"Thank you... I-I... thank you," Ginny was smiling up at him. "I'll be right in.. just give me a moment, yeah?"

Oliver reached out and kissed her on the cheek, then the top of her head. "Come in when you're ready."

Then he went inside leaving her alone with the shadow that watched her.

Harry regarded her for a moment. He then observed in horror as she sat herself down on the steps of her house and let out a strangled sob which echoed sharply against the joy inside of the house.

Harry couldn't take it.

"I love you twice as much as he does," he said quickly.

She jumped and looked wildly at him.

"Harry?" she whispered, hoarsely.

"He's not that bad... Wood, that is."

Ginny stood up, on shaky legs and looked at him in wonder. "You've been gone for six months... we got reports... reports that Voldermort had caught you."

Harry looked down, ashamed and kicked at the snow with his shoe. "I know... I started those 'reports'."

Ginny nodded, looking like she might pull out his lugs through his mouth. "You started them... and didn't bother to inform us that they were false."

"I had to make it so... Bellatrix never believed _we_ were done and had plans to attack you. I did it to save you-"

Ginny had slapped him. So hard that it nearly knocked him to his back.

"Wha-"

She slapped him again. "I hate you." She hissed.

With that she stormed up the steps. He listened as the party stopped - her steps were heard thundering up until the door to her room slammed. Harry could hear Hermione knocking on her door but what affected Harry the most was the sobs coming from her window.

He turned to start walking away... then he stopped.

There she was - up in her dark room crying her heart out... he'd finally done it; he'd broken someone's heart. Broken a heart he desperately loved.

With shaking hands he reached into his robes for that security he'd always had. He clutched the earring tightly in his palm and whispered her name to it.

The same scene had played over and over. He knew this scene by memory. This moment in his life kept him breathing and walking.

_"Don't you just wish we could stay like this?" Ginny asked him - her eyes slightly glazed as she watched the Giant Squid playing with the water._

_Harry looked down at her smiling face. "Yeah... I wish this right here were my life."_

_She turned to him. "Things wont always be like this, Harry."_

_"I know... but someday it will be." He leaned in to kiss her. _

_"Promise?" Ginny asked slyly as she rubbed his lower abdomen._

_"Yeah... I'll remind you in case you ever forget." _

He could still hear the ringing of her laugher in his ears. In the middle of the cold deserted night, in the middle of her sobs.

Well.. he _had_ made a promise.

With a flick of his wand he apparated into her room. It sent her screaming and falling on her back.

"Sorry!"

"Harry!" her wand was now pointed directly at his chest.

"Just hear me out, yeah?" he was holding his hands up in surrender as she glared him down - regardless to her puffy red eyes and wet cheeks.

"I made you a promise, Ginny... I made you a promise that after all this was done we would live our life by a lake... remember?"

She blinked at him.

"Well we didn't exactly promise with that much detail, but I've had a lot of time on my own and I've decided it should be by a lake with loads of animals you'd call 'sweet' and a large Quiddich field were you could steal the Snitch from right under my nose... for the rest of our lives. This sounded very good in my head."

He was annoyed to find himself breathing hard and quite sentimental.

"I... I love you, Ginny." he looked down at his snow-showered shoes. "You are what makes me strong... you don't take none of my moods, you put me in my place, you look at me in a way I never even imagined and when I think of happiness I think of the times I spent with you."

She had put down her wand by now. She was looking at him as if she'd seen him in a whole new light.

"It's ironic, Harry."

"Ironic?"

She looked around at her room, it was full of her things.

"In this same room I fell in love with you, in this same room I told you I loved you and finally in this same room I hear you say it back."

Harry's mouth slowly turned into a smile.

"Maybe a lot more will happen in this room."

She snorted. "Don't count your luck, Potter-"

But he cut her off, grabbing her by the waist and kissing her.

Their first kiss has been the beginning of something - this kiss what the promise of much more.

When he left her again that night, only a few hours before he arrived, there was a smile on her face. Once more he knew he had nothing to explain to her. She knew what he had to say with just a look from his eyes.

He wondered if this is how his father felt when he looked at his mother. Then _he_ smiled at the irony of it all. The Potters must have a thing for red.

She watched him until he disappeared behind some snow covered trees and when he found Tonks a few hours later she could tell by the brightness coming off his face that all had worked out just right.

"I think it's high time someone told you about the birds and the bees since they seem to be in season." She told him amicably.

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The End.


	3. Violet Cape

**Violet Capes**

by Isabelle

Spoilers: Set Post-Half-Blood Prince

Summary: One lonely night, apparitions do more than just speak to Harry.

Rating: PG-13

a/n: Two more ficlets will follow this as companion

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Stories like his were not written for children.

The darkness that binds us is the lightness that saves us and the future that comes is the dreams once dreamt.

It was already May. It was always snowing. Darkness had overtaken the earth and still he was just a warrior, a warrior tired and nearly broken – with eyes that had seen too much sorrow.

He felt his entire soul slowly slipping away. He lay on his small cot- made for soldiers. Soldiers now lost and forgotten.

His 'team' was outside making all types of plans but Harry the general was tired, lost and alone. He felt the cold seep into his insides and freeze him. It had been years since his lips had seen a smile.

The perpetual scowl on his face made him look older. Soon he'd look like Moody.

He turned on his side, hiding his head in his arms; trying to block out the whimpering of those who were wounded.

And still not a scar on his body, not one pain. His doom was to watch over others. His role in life was to watch those he cared for suffer.

He felt his tent being opened and a cloaked figure entered. He was waiting for Lupin to arrive.

When he looked up from under the rich violet robe a red head came out with hair three-feet long.

"Ginny?" He whispered, unsure of the vision before him. He quickly stood up and pulled his wand. He was weary of Death Eaters.

"Password: Granny's earrings." She simply said.

A ghost of a smile touched his lips and he felt their skin crack, the coppery taste of blood invading his mouth.

"You're bleeding." She immediately came to him and touched his lips.

He felt all the hairs on his skin rise in attention to her warmth. She gentle dabbed her robe against his lips as he stood there and continued to gap at her like an idiot.

Taking out her wand she placed it against his lips and said a simply healing charm.

"Lack of kissing, I think." She smiled at him.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice sounded strange in her presence – he sounded like a far off stranger.

"No one is left at Hogwarts… Ron is protecting Hermione while she researches that spell for you, Mom is a sack of nerves but her and Fleur even each other out and I was about to lose it being so far away."

"You need to get back, Ginny –"

"I've done what you've wanted to me to do. I've listened to you, and I have never stopped you. Now, it's my time to say what I have to say." She told him, her face strong. "Plus, you have to protect me from Voldemort."

"From Voldemort?" He looked at her as if she's grown another head.

"I'm your seventh Horcrux."

The moment her words left her mouth a sinking, nasty, gashing feeling inside of him told him it was true.

Tom Riddle had poured a piece of his soul to an innocent eleven-year-old. All these months he had been searching and hunting and all the while what he was searching for was the one thing he had wanted to stay away from.

"No –" Denial was a powerful thing.

"I'm not afraid, Harry."

His mission was to destroy all Horcruxes. But this time … this time he'd rather take his own life, as well as the life of Ron and Hermione rather than taking hers.

Harry had never felt so cheated in his entire life.

"Everything… he's taken everything from me… but he wont take you--"

"He's already taken me, Harry." Her voice was soft, sad and resigned.

"I won't let him. There's a way around it. Hermione will--"

"Hermione figured it out. I came to tell you. Aside from Ron, Hermione and you no one else knows." She placed her hands on either side of his face and leaned in, touching her forehead with his. "I'm not afraid, Harry."

He pulled her to him, breathing in her scent. "I'm afraid for you… I don't know what I'll do…"

"Shh…" She ran her hands down his back and pulled him closer. "I'm not afraid, Harry – I don't regret anything and I wouldn't change one thing about the time I've spent with you."

"Stop it!" he pulled her back to stare at her. "Nothing will happen to you – I won't let it!"

"I know you won't, Harry. But I'm staying with you – and there's nothing you can do about it!" her face was set, determined and passionate. All of these things he loved.

Without preamble or thought he kissed her. The kiss was wild, unlike anything they had shared before. Be it the fact that he felt she was slipping right through his fingers – like kissing water – hot boiling water. Scorching him, loosing him in her depth.

Before he understood what was happening the one thing he had thought in his long nights was starting coming true.

Ginny let her violet cape fall to the floor to reveal a very low-cut ivory gown. Harry stood transfixed – starring at her chest.

"Harry?" her voice sounded small, scared – something that shook him. "I've never… you know."

Her face was red – coloring to her roots.

It had been such a long time since he had seen her blush in this manner. Before she used to be a girl and now she was a woman.

"We don't have to—"

"I want to." Her face was set. She placed her hands on her shoulders and pushed the sleeves off her.

It was a night he would never forget, she gave him what he never had received before – she gave him love unconditionally, passion he never thought he'd have and hope. A strange feeling once called hope.

After, when she fell asleep in his arms – when he could count her freckles by the light of the coming moon he promised her she would live.

He promised her he would save her.

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The End


	4. Brigade Full of Warriors

Brigade Full of Warriors  
By Isabelle

Spoilers: Set Post-Half-Blood Prince  
Summary: The most important night for the rest of their lives.  
Rating: PG-13

a/n: One more ficlet will follow this one to complete the 5-part mini-series.

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Today was the day he would remember for the rest of his life.

No more promises, no more hushed words, no more foolery. It was time for the courage to be tested and to see how long you could grind your teeth without breaking your jaw.

They were preparing to go into battle. Today was the night – after this night there would be no more Voldemort. There will be no more nightmares, no more fear, no more death, today was the day he became the man his people needed him to be.

There was something inside of him dead – a piece of him had died. To think that he one day thought he could have a normal existence was beyond him – what a fool he was.

He stared across the room; Ginny looked spectacular in her war robes. She had slashed two slits that ran from her upper hip all the way down, revealing her long freckled and toned legs. Her hair, bright as always, was braided long down her back – she placed a blade in her back- securing it with leather strings and some magic; another blade she wrapped around her upper thigh.

She had trained with him – magically, physically, mentally. They all knew they would not survive, but no one wanted to continue living under Voldemort's reign.

"You ready?" she asked him.

He could tell there was a sense of fear to her voice but she was willing to take anyone out that came between her and her mission.

"Are you?" he asked back.

"I was born for this, Harry – just like you." She came to him, revealing her velvet-green corset that shaped her in the most suggestive manner.

"You look to kill death eaters by revealing to them your breasts?" he asked hotly. You would think he would be used to nearly all males gapping at her when she walked. She had really turned out stunning.

They were adults now and though Harry was only nineteen he felt he had lived one hundred lives. His favorite life had been the last few years with Ginny by his side.

"No, I plan to stun them with my beauty," she smirked at him, leaning in and kissing him.

He had kissed Ginny exactly 1,142 times. He never got tired of it.

Every kiss was new, every moan was intoxicating and he felt himself lost in her.

She was trembling when they parted and the warrior woman he had seen a moment ago was replaced with that small scared girl he had seen lying on the Chamber of Secret's floor.

"Don't be scared," he told her, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Tonight we win."

She nodded at him, giving him a winning smile. She placed her forehead against his and the constant pain that his scar gave him was gone.

They had discovered this a few months ago. She was his antidote. The small part of Voldemort inside of her calmed him.

For what he could hate he could never love – Harry Potter's life and its ironic twists.

"Harry. Ginny. It's time."

They pulled away and turned to see Hermione and Ron waiting for them – both dressed in their warrior robes ready to pull off the final act to the events that had rapidly taken over their lives.

"How are you feeling, Ginny?" Ron asked her, concerned.

"Brilliant. Moody's potion worked wonders." She answered him and followed Hermione and Ron out of the door.

Weeks ago he thought he would lose her. The pain inside of her prevented her from living. He had been forced to sit by her side and watch her cry almost constantly.

Voldemort was killing her from the inside out, trying to get to Harry through her.

He was going to kill the bastard tonight. He was going to make him pay for every tear she had shed, for every tear he had shed, for everyone who had lost a loved one or seen a loved one suffer.

Thanks to Moody finally returning from Africa he brought with him a primitive antidote to take her pain away and exorcise Voldemort's hold on her.

--Until tonight when Harry would make sure every single bit of Tom Riddle was out of her.

Before him stood his brigade; composed of friends, and those hurt too much to care if they lived or die.

Much like himself.

They mounted their brooms and headed into battle.

The night was one which would live in the minds of all those who survived – there was no point of return. They were outnumbered but the need for glory of the Death Eaters was no match for hearts full of vengeance of the aurors and the wizards.

One by one they fell, making way for Harry and Ginny to go in and finish it off.

Ron fought like a champion that night and Hermione stunned quite a few with spells she had both created and brought back to life after decades of misuse.

Ginny was untouchable by the Death Eaters; the closer they got to Voldemort the more she began to glow. Harry could see the tears of pain flowing down her cheeks but she carried on; holding on to his hand like a lifeline.

"We're almost there," he would tell her, reassuringly.

Many died by his hand that night and he knew that after all of this he would never be the same.

She looked at him and gave him her most brilliant smile yet, then turned and fiercely looked on the path ahead.

They both stood side by side in front of a door – dark power came from it. They both knew that the moment they went through that door it would change. The greatest test was yet to come.

"_Protecto sanctum imperio, protecto sanctum imperio…"_ Ginny started to chant and Harry joined her.

The energy that was crackling around her and his scar started building a shield – a shield just like Hermione predicted would be impenetrable.

The door flew open and what Death Eaters were left charged at them.

By just pointing his wand at them he watched them go down – one by one.

Then his eyes locked to intense red ones that regarded him with hate.

"You're too late, Potter – she's dead already, I can feel her dying from the inside out." Voldemort mocked.

Harry continued chanting with Ginny as they bubble grew larger and larger – until he could hardly breathe. Ginny turned to face him, nearly sobbing with pain now but that still determined fierce look in her eyes. She then nodded to him.

His heart was beating so rapidly he was sure even Voldemort sensed his near panic. Harry pulled out the Gryffindor sword passed to him, looked at Ginny – with his hand shaking he thrust the sword into her.

He heard Voldemort scream – a loud shriek of defeat.

Ginny's eyes were large; her breath hiccupped a few times before she fell forward and into Harry's waiting arms.

The shield then fell leaving only him, Voldemort and a dying Ginny.

He tried not to think of the dead weight in his arms and he placed her thin body down and turned to face the creature.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Voldermort screeched.

Harry looked at him almost in pity, sword still in hand.

Voldemort was kneeling on the floor, his nose bleeding and a dark mist around him.

"She's made you destructible. The last bit of your soul has been killed." Harry showed the creature the sword. "You've destroyed everything I was born to love. You killed my parents – my mother, my father, Sirius, Dumbledore, Cedric, Neville's parents, so many people… did you really think no one would conquer you?"

Voldemort was trying to stand up, pulling himself up using a pillar.

"But you'll die now – like the dog you are. You might be the most powerful Wizard to ever live … but I killed you. Twice. This time you're not coming back. You cannot live without a soul and I need your blood to bring her back."

He said simply.

"She's – she's…"

"She'll be back. You… well, you definitely won't."

Harry brought his sword up and slashed it down to Voldemort's astonished face. The head rolled, separating itself from its body, and the body and head exploded leaving Harry bathed in ashes.

He took in the place were the monster had resided then quickly turned to Ginny's body. She was pale now and he could hear Hermione's voice in his head.

_No more than a minute can go by, Harry!_

He brought the dirty sword to Ginny's lips.

"_Hemus Areito Ameirge Consairius…"_ His hands were trembling as he placed the sword now against the wound.

"Please… please Ginny." His voice was trembling.

Nothing was happening. He started to shake her in earnest.

"Get up! Fight it, Ginny! I know you can fight it! Please fight it!" Tears were now flowing down his face.

He wouldn't be able to take it, he knew it. He couldn't take the fact that he might've killed her – that she might've died so that he could live.

"GINNY!"

She gasped, opened her eyes and let out a cry.

"Ginny?" Still shaking he picked her up and pulled her against him. "It's all right, it's over – he's dead, Ginny."

She looked at him with glassy eyes and smiled.

"I knew you could do it, Harry… I've always known."

"Couldn't have done without those that I love," Burying his nose in her hair and hiding the tears that fell freely from his eyes.

When Hermione, Ron, Lupin and Tonks burst through the doors they found Ginny still unconscious in his arms.

Voldemort's ashes lay innocent, without harm to be done.

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To be continued (there's one more part)


	5. The Spanish Phonograph

The Spanish Phonograph  
by Isabelle

Summary: Harry wakes up after the events of the previous part happen.

Rating: PG-13 for adult themes

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR - she's the master here.

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Part 5/5

The soft sound of the phonograph brought him back to the world of the living. The words were in Spanish but the sound of them was a melancholic sound of lost loves.

As the man in the phonograph mourned his lost love Harry wondered if he'd lost his mind.

"I have no idea what he is saying but it sounds dreadfully sad, no?"

A voice filtered his mind. There she was, sitting on his bed, looking out the window.

"Dad got it out of an old Muggle couple's house... they were killed by Death Eaters... Hermione showed us how it worked... I'm a bit addicted to it."

Her voice was soft, angelical and sad all at the same time.

"I would've never forgiven you, Harry... if you would've never woken up."

She turned to him and he was a bit shocked to see her face. She looked as if she'd lacked sleep in months; her glow was gone, replaced by a dreariness.

He tried to speak but his voice was so hoarse he could hardly breathe.

"Three months and seven days..." She reached out for his hand. Hers felt dry and cold in his. "You were in a Wizard Trance..." Harry looked confused. "Hermione says Muggles call it a 'coma' - or something like that..." She sighed and smiled, still sitting and trying not to face him. "Magical exhaustion."

"Wh-where am I?" Harry whispered hoarsely.

"Home... at the burrow."

Harry looked around, trying to sit up.

"I'd forgotten what color the walls were..." she was quiet and sullen still.

"Ginny... what's wrong?" He was sitting down, his body feeling refreshed - as if he got a good eight hours of sleep.

She stood, her back still to him. "It's been a bigger hell than anything watching you there - peacefully sleeping."

"Gin-"

But the words died in his mouth when she turned to him, his eyes bulged and his mouth hung open. He felt as if a loud whistle were blowing through his brain. He felt dizzy, fuzzy and anything that can be attributed to sudden shock.

"You're... you're..."

"Pregnant." She gave him a sad smile. "Yes, Harry."

"How..." her mind was still reeling, he was sure he would faint.

"I'm five months pregnant... I was carrying the child when... you know..." She looked away, holding her stomach with a protective stand.

His heart kept drumming in his ears. "The baby... when I..." Guilt-more strong and more powerful-tore through him.

"The baby is fine, Harry... the potion Moody gave me made a protective circle around it..." she looked away.

"You knew?" Fury flooded within him.

"... I had a _feeling_." She admitted.

Harry stood, still a bit shaky, but the shaking was more out of rage with her - he'd never felt so angry with her.

"You had a _feeling_?" His tone was even, there was an increasingly large lump forming in his throat.

"... nothing happened, Harry. The baby is fine - nothing's wrong with it." she assured him, but he could read off her that her guilt was killing her.

"What if something would've happened to me, to YOU!" He was shouting now. She winced at his words. "You have NO idea what it's like to grow up wondering what your parents were like because all you know of them is other people's accounts!"

Ginny turned from him, huddling herself in the shadows.

"HOW COULD YOU?" he bellowed. Harry looked at her as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing from her. "I STABBED YOU! IT WAS _YOUR_ IDEA!"

"I KNOW!" She turned towards him. Her face was wet with tears and her eyes were hallow. "Don't you think I know what I did! What could've happened?"

She was looking around, lost and shattered. "I've sat next to you for the past few months just bathed in guilt - I've done my share of screaming - all at myself! I've sat down through everyone else's speech - from Lupin to Mother to Hermione to EVERYONE!"

She was sobbing now, her slim shoulder shaking.

"But I couldn't... I didn't want my child - our child - to come to this world with that _monster_ still around." Her voice was hallow. It shook Harry to the core. She looked so lost, so misplaced, as if the happy-lively Ginny he had fallen in love with had been replaced by a bad copy. "Imagine what it's life would've been like... I know I deceived you, that I deceived everyone but Moody... I know I risked it all and we almost killed it... I know!"

Harry stood staring at her, transfixed. His heart was aching to hold her, to hold her so close - he also wanted to be happy... but too much had been lost to be happy about this... too much pain.

"I understand if you don't want to see me again... and if you think I'm not fit to be a mother, truly I understand... " She was shaking so hard that Harry was afraid she might decompose right then and there. "I will go... once it's born and I don't have to see you again."

Her words were drumming in Harry's ears, and he stepped towards her, not sure of what to do. He wanted to hold her, to assure her, but he also wanted to shake her into sense.

"Everyone is thinking the same thing you are, Harry... they all wonder if I've lost my mind... maybe I have... maybe having Voldemort's soul in me for so long completely destroyed me... I don't know... I just don't know any longer..." Shadows were embracing her as she sunk to the floor.

He stood and watched her sob for a bit. She sobbed as if her heart was irreparably broken and there would be no hope for it. He couldn't take it anymore, he squatted down in front of her, taking her hands in his. Her once-bright eyes turned and looked at him.

"I don't hate you, Ginny... yes, I'm upset... I'm very upset... but I could never hate you." He brought her hand to his lips. "I would die if you leave me. Life is nothing to me without you... I've never known happiness like what you've shown me... and I am sure I will never taste happiness unless I have you beside me."

Her face started to morph into what looked like hope; it was so sad and heartbreaking that he couldn't help but pull her against him and assure her.

When her face was buried in his neck he heard her sob out in relief, clutching to him like there was no tomorrow. Gone was the warrior woman that she'd transformed herself into before fighting Voldemort - now was a vulnerable girl who needed him as much as he usually needed her.

It was his turn to forgive, accept and live on.

He could live with it - Voldemort had tried to hurt them even after his demise - but he wasn't going to let him win, not this time, not ever. Harry would find his happiness, he would see his child born, and he would make sure Ginny wore her grandmother's earrings on the day of their wedding.

So help him he would.

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The True End

A/N: A bit sad, I know - and I know you guys might dislike Ginny, but I believe this story was about forgiveness. Ginny had to forgive Harry for leaving her behind, and obviously Harry has quite a bit of forgiving to do. I will not write a sequel to this; this is were it ends, sorry! I'm glad so many of you liked it.

Also, I know this story is a bit AU, considering JKR's recent interview about Ginny as a horcrux - but I still had the idea and I wanted to run with it; it's what Fan fiction is all about.


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